Swine flu outbreak underscores importance of agriculture research

As a county extension agent early in my career, I often saw agricultural producers and local communities deal with the effects of natural phenomena, including such things as insect infestations and disease outbreaks.

To help clientele prepare for, diagnose and recover from these events, my extension colleagues and I would turn to university and government researchers for the science-based knowledge to minimize these incidents.

Later, as an insect geneticist studying the Mediterranean fruit fly, I often was called upon by federal and state agricultural officials and the citrus industry to help contain Medfly outbreaks that threatened to cause millions of dollars in losses for growers and processors, losses that ultimately would have reduced availability of nutritious fruit to consumers.

By analyzing Medfly DNA, my lab could frequently trace the origin of the insects so officials could identify the likely point of entry and stop the outbreak at its source.

Now, we find ourselves in the midst of a serious influenza outbreak that threatens to become a global pandemic. As the number of confirmed cases grows worldwide, scientists and public health officials are scrambling to determine where the novel H1N1 strain of influenza A originated and to devise strategies to protect human and animal health.

In light of an influenza virus' uncanny ability to combine, re-assort and jump species, we cannot afford to ignore the interrelatedness of animal and human health, nor can we overstate the need for research to better understand these threats to our families' and communities' physical and economic well-being.

Bruce McPheron

Planning for and responding to such threats is nothing new for scientists in the College of Agricultural Sciences. Our researchers study many zoonotic diseases (those that can be transmitted from animals to humans).

We are working to develop vaccines and rapid diagnostic tests. We are studying how disease organisms survive and spread among populations. We are helping agricultural producers improve biosecurity, animal nutrition and other management practices to reduce the risk of their herds contracting or spreading diseases.

And we are sharing the results of our research, as well as research from other land-grant universities nationwide, through our statewide system of county-based Cooperative Extension offices, where educators are stationed to provide practical educational programs that meet locally identified needs.

This system works because we have an established research infrastructure staffed by dedicated and highly trained professionals who are thinking about potential problems before they become crises.

For instance, a scientist in our animal diagnostic laboratory developed a rapid test for avian influenza that was used to diagnose a 2001 avian flu outbreak in Pennsylvania in less than a day. As a result, quick action by state agricultural officials and the poultry industry contained the outbreak with negligible economic loss, no spread to other flocks and, most importantly, minimal threat to human health. An outbreak of the same virus months later in Virginia took about a week to diagnose, giving the virus time to replicate and spread, which resulted in losses exceeding $100 million for that state's poultry industry.

Our animal diagnostic lab, one partner in the Pennsylvania Animal Diagnostic Laboratory System, is prepared to play a major role in testing and surveillance for H1N1 flu to help protect Pennsylvania swine herds and the public.

This is one example of the return society receives from its investment in agricultural research and education. Without ongoing support for research infrastructure and personnel, this system will erode, hampering our ability to anticipate and respond to the next big disease outbreak. And that's a risk we ought not to take.

Bruce McPheron, Ph.D., is associate dean for research and graduate education in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.